The Story Behind Beyond the Wedge

A Lifelong Love of Cheese

Laura Davenport's journey into the world of cheese began in the 1990s, when she was a student at Ball State University and spent Saturday mornings visiting White Feather Farms. Those early visits sparked a fascination that would grow into a lifelong passion for cheese, food, and culinary discovery.

After college, Laura spent three weeks backpacking through Europe, eating bread and cheese for nearly every meal. What might sound like a simple travel diet became an introduction to the extraordinary place cheese holds in everyday life, regional identity, and food culture. She began to appreciate how something so familiar could be so different from one place to another—and how food could tell the story of a region and its people.

Her curiosity continued to grow in 2005, when she began working at an organic dairy farm. In 2007, she attended her first American Cheese Society Conference, discovering a broader community of cheese professionals, artisan producers, and passionate advocates who shared her enthusiasm for the craft and culture of cheese.

From Passion to Profession

In 2014, Laura co-founded Tulip Tree Creamery in Indianapolis, Indiana. As co-owner and Sales Director, she has helped build an award-winning artisan cheese company and developed extensive experience in the specialty food industry. Her work has included sales, marketing, education, and building relationships with retailers, distributors, chefs, and food professionals.

Working within the artisan cheese industry gave Laura a deeper appreciation for the dedication, creativity, and expertise required to bring exceptional food to market. It also strengthened her desire to help consumers understand and appreciate the products they buy and the people behind them.

In 2017, Laura earned her Certified Cheese Professional (CCP) credential through the American Cheese Society, formalizing her knowledge and commitment to the cheese industry.

But for Laura, learning about cheese has never been a finished project. It is an ongoing adventure.

Exploring Cheese Beyond the Familiar

In 2023, Laura traveled through eastern France and northern Italy, exploring the regional foods, traditions, and culinary cultures that make these destinations so inspiring. These experiences reinforced her belief that cheese is inseparable from its origins—from the landscapes and local traditions to the people who preserve generations of food knowledge.

Travel deepened her appreciation for the connections between cheese, wine, history, culture, and place. It also inspired her to share those discoveries with others, helping people experience food not just as something to eat, but as a way to understand and explore the world.

Today, Laura continues to expand her expertise through the study of cheese sensory evaluation. She is exploring how we perceive aroma, flavor, texture, and mouthfeel, and how these elements influence our experience of food. By building on her professional experience with a deeper understanding of the senses, she aims to make cheese education even more engaging, insightful, and accessible.

A New Chapter: Beyond the Wedge

After years immersed in the artisan cheese industry, Laura is bringing together her professional knowledge, passion for education, love of food, and spirit of adventure through Beyond the Wedge.

Her vision is to create experiences that encourage people to slow down, pay attention, ask questions, and discover something new. Whether that means learning how to build a memorable cheese pairing, exploring the sensory qualities of an exceptional cheese, meeting the people behind artisan foods, or traveling to a region known for its culinary traditions, Laura wants every experience to leave people with a deeper appreciation for the world of food.

As a Certified Cheese Professional, cheese educator, cheese advocate, and lifelong lover of food and cheese, she believes that education should be inviting, discovery should be fun, and there is always more to learn.

Beyond the Wedge brings all of these passions together in one place: a celebration of flavor, a curiosity about culture, and an invitation to explore.